Once I hung up, I made the set list for Thursday’s gig and it was going to be a humdinger, designed both for Dixon Jones and Kai Mason and then I played guitar. Then Juno and I went to bed and I planned.
The bathroom door opened and I heard Mace moving through the room. I saw his shadow at the side of the bed, the covers went back and then he was in, stretching out beside me and pul ing the covers up to his waist.
For some reason, I stayed where I was, waiting for him to reach out to me.
He didn’t. He was on his back, he put his hands behind his head and I saw his profile facing the ceiling. I was on my side, facing him.
“Lee told me about the fight in the head shop,” he said.
Oh dear.
“Pong and Leo got a little out-of-control,” I replied.
Mace didn’t respond. There was nothing to say. Pong and Leo had a habit of getting out-of-control on a routine basis.
“Daisy and Hector have set a meeting on Thursday with the A&R guy from Black Fat Records,” I told him.
“You gonna take the meet?”
I took in a breath then said, “Yeah.”
He took his hands from behind his head, turned to his side to face me and murmured, “Good.”
“I’m scared,” I shared.
“I know,” he returned.
Wel , there you go. Nothing else to say on that subject.
“I swung by to see Monk today,” Mace told me. “Got your money, it’s on the kitchen counter. I’l give Floyd, Hugo, Pong and Leo their take tomorrow.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know that too.”
Wel , there you go again. Nothing else to say on that either.
“I didn’t cal my Mom today,” I told him.
“Good,” he surprised me by replying. “I want to be there when you do it.”
My heart skipped a beat.
God, I loved him.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Again, he didn’t respond.
“How was your day?” I asked, feeling weird.
We’d never done this, laying in bed, talking, sharing, even, one could say, processing.
It was kind of freaking me out (but in a good way).
“There’s been progress. George, the guy from the offices today, is an assistant DA. He’s giving us trouble with Sid’s case. Hank went over George’s head. Presented the evidence to his boss. The boss disagreed with George.
He told Hank and Eddie to bring Sid in. The warrant for his arrest went out tonight.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, on the face of it. Sid’s gonna be hard to find. He’s also gonna retaliate, mobilize his army.”
“I thought his army was already mobilized.”
“Defensive tactics. He’l go offensive now.” That didn’t sound good. In fact, that sounded way not good.
“George is pissed,” Mace went on. “Hank made him look like a fool.”
“Is that gonna be bad?”
“We don’t know yet. George doesn’t like looking like a fool. He’d go after Hank but there’s nothing to get on Hank.
Instead, he’l likely go after Lee and Shirleen as retribution.”
“How?”
“Lee’l be okay. He doesn’t play by the rules but he covers his tracks. But Shirleen used to deal drugs.” I gasped at this news but Mace talked through it. “Now she’s fostering two runaways and Jules and another social worker at the Shelter pul ed some strings to place Roam and Sniff with her. Roam and Sniff might be moved out.
Jules might lose her job.”
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“It’l be okay,” Mace told me.
“It doesn’t sound okay.”
“Don’t worry about it, Kitten.” And he didn’t sound worried. Not at al . And I trusted him to be right so I let it go.
“Shirleen used to deal drugs?” I asked.
“Yeah, she was never busted and she’s been clean awhile.”
“I can’t believe that of Shirleen.” And I couldn’t.
“Even good people do bad things, Stel a. Shirleen’s good people. She just did bad things. Now, she doesn’t.
She’s a good foster carer, she loves those kids. Would lay down her life for them, proved it this morning. She’s also a good friend. That’s al you need to know. End of story.” It was my turn to fal silent because I trusted him to be right about that too. And, with what I experienced of Shirleen, I knew he was right.
Then I shared, “This is weird.”
“What?”
“You. Me. Talking.”
I heard the smile in his voice when he said, “I like it.” You could hear my smile in my voice when I said, “Me too.”
Then I decided it was time to start beating back those demons. I had to start right away because I didn’t like him living with them and I wasn’t going to let him do it one second longer than he had to.
“I like you coming home to me,” I told him softly.
The minute I stopped talking, the air in the room changed. It felt like it became heavy, close but warmer.
Mace didn’t respond but he did move, final y touching me, his fingers, whisper-soft, at my waist.
I went on, “I like making breakfast for you. I like you in my kitchen. I like that henley you wore today, it looks great on you.”
“Kitten,” he murmured and his fingers shifted down the smal of my back. He leaned his body into me and pul ed me closer.